West Aurora Unit District 129 notes
Emmy winner to lead parade: A West Aurora High School graduate who has found success in Hollywood will return to where it all began next month.
Josh Gilbert, who has earned an Emmy and was co-writer for a major movie script, will be the grand marshal of the 2008 West Aurora High School Homecoming Parade. The school's Homecoming theme this year is "Hollywood Red Carpet."
The parade begins at 2:50 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 2 at the corner of Garfield and Calumet avenues. It travels east on Garfield, south on Fordham, west on Kensington and north on Calumet.
The parade is part of a week of Homecoming activities at West, including the Friday, Oct. 3 football game against Wheaton-Warrenville South.
Gilbert, who now lives in Los Angeles, graduated in 1992 and said he was encouraged to pursue writing by West Aurora teachers. His work includes game shows, Saturday morning cartoons and "Whose Line Is It Anyway."
While working on "The Wayne Brady Show," he earned a best talk show Emmy in 2003.
Gilbert co-wrote the screenplay for "Mr. Woodcock," a movie starring Billy Bob Thornton and Susan Sarandon that was released in 2007. He also has several more movie screenplays in development.
IMSA partnership: Fearn Elementary School in North Aurora is partnering with the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy this school year to provide an after-school math and science enrichment program for interested, talented and motivated students.
Fearn is the first West Aurora Unit District 129 elementary school to participate. The four district middle schools started this IMSA Excellence 2000+ (E2K) program one year ago.
The program's goals include not only increasing students' interest, involvement and literacy in science and mathematics, but also enhancing the knowledge and skills of teachers. To prepare for this program, Fearn teachers Kelly Starck, Amanda Teske and Laura Banks have attended the Academy's E2K professional development sessions.
Additional information about E2K is at www.imsa.edu/programs/e2k.